Beverly Kay Barnett

Professor:  Dr. Will Patterson

My general research interest includes Gulf of Mexico reef fish ecology, with particular emphasis on exploited species. I want to conduct innovative research on reef fishes in the Gulf of Mexico in an attempt to provide fisheries management with data needed to manage our nation’s fisheries effectively. The potential use of otoliths and their ability to record environmental history of waters inhabited by fish is an area of research that can provide information on population structure, movement and connectivity. Estimating the source(s) of recruits to fisheries is a critical data need for management and otoliths have proven to be a useful tool for delineating the contribution that different nursery areas provide to adult fish stocks.
Picture of red snapper otolith

  

My thesis research focuses on red snapper otolith chemistry. The first component of my research is an attempt to distinguish red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, nursery regions in the northern Gulf of Mexico using otolith elemental and stable isotope signatures. Juvenile (age-0) red snapper are sampled in four U.S. Gulf of Mexico regions to determine if there are significant interregional differences in otolith chemistry, with an emphasis along the west Florida shelf. The second part of my research involves conducting a series of experiments to test the premise that otolith cores reflect the otolith chemistry of whole otoliths, thus cores of adults can be used to estimate fish nursery origin.  I use a Merchantek micromilling machine to extract cores of otoliths which can then be analyzed for elemental (with sector field-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry) and stable isotope (with isotope ratio-mass spectrometry) signatures. The overall goal of this work is to develop natural tags based on otolith chemistry that will allow future research to be conducted on red snapper population structure, connectivity and mixing rates in Gulf of Mexico waters.

Picture of red snapper, Lutjanus campechanus.

 

email: bkb9@students.uwf.edu